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For the second
successive year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi celebrated Diwali with soldiers
on Wednesday, saying the world looks at India with respect because of their
valour and “character”, in comments that come against the backdrop of protests
by several veterans over the one rank, one pension (OROP) scheme.

He visited the
Dograi War Memorial in Khasa in Amritsar and placed wreath at the venue of one
of the toughest battles fought and won by Indian forces on September 22, 1965.

He also laid a
wreath at the Asal Uttar Memorial near Valtoha on the Amritsar-Khem Karan road
in Punjab and at the tomb of Company Quartermaster Havildar Abdul Hamid, a
Param Vir Chakra recipient.

Modi noted that
during the Asal Uttar battle in 1965, Hamid single handedly destroyed 3 enemy
tanks and helped stop their offensive, in spite of being mortally wounded.

“Paying homage to CQMH Abdul
Hamid. He was awarded the Param Vir Chakra posthumously for his gallantry,”
Modi later tweeted.

Asal Uttar Memorial marks the
Battle of Asal Uttar, which was one of the largest tank battles fought within
the Indian territory in 1965.

“Our forces captured/destroyed
over 90 enemy tanks by the end of the Battle of Asal Uttar...During this battle
CQMH Abdul Hamid single handedly destroyed three enemy tanks & helped stop
their offensive, inspite of being mortally wounded,” Modi said in his tweets.

Addressing the troops in Khasa,
he said, “I have come to celebrate Diwali with you. I am happy to get this
opportunity...”

Hailing the soldiers, the Prime
Minister said, “It is because of your valour, dedication and dreams that the
whole world looks at India with respect. It is not only because of the uniform
but character of the armed forces.”

He said India holds its head
high in the comity of nations because the generations of leaders in the armed
forces nurtured the forces.

“I congratulate those who have
provided leadership over several years to the armed forces,” Modi said.

His tributes to the “character”
of armed forces come against the backdrop of protests by a section of ex-servicemen
over the “dilution” of ‘one rank, one pension’. Several war veterans have
returned their medals as part of their protest.

Later, he tweeted, “I spent time
with our soldiers and we had a wonderful conversation.”

This is the second successive
Diwali that Modi spent with troops since becoming the Prime Minister. Last year
on Diwali, he had paid a surprise visit to Siachen, the highest battleground in
the world, to spend time with the troops.

Earlier in the day, he tweeted,
“Today on the auspicious occasion of Diwali, I am visiting the border areas to
spend time with our Jawans.”

Meanwhile, the Prime Minister
also paid a visit to the Barki Memorial in Ferozepur, which was constructed in
1969 to commemorate the soldiers of the 7 Infantry Division killed in 1965
India-Pakistan War.

The memorial has a pillar in the
centre, a Patton tank and a Barki milestone on the south along with a water
fountain at its north. The 27-foot-high pillar is built of red and white
sandstone.

Modi in his address to the
troops at Ferozepur, said, “Recently, in the defence sector, the country has
made many important decisions.”

He said that experts in this
sector would know how decisions are now quickly taken.

Despite the
notification on the ‘one rank, one pension’ (OROP) scheme, ex-servicemen today
continued their protest and returned their gallantry and other medals, accusing
the government of cheating them.

This is not the
first time veterans have returned their medals. They did the same during the
tenure of the UPA. Veterans said they would observe a ‘Black Diwali’ to protest
the Modi government’s failure to keep its promises.

Defence Minister
Manohar Parrikar today said the ex-servicemen protesting over the OROP
notification were misguided and that they should approach a judicial commission
being set up as part of the scheme to discuss the issue.

“It’s their democratic right (to
protest), but I think they are misguided. If at all they have a grievance, they
(ex-servicemen) should put it before the judicial commission we are
appointing,” Parrikar said at the commissioning ceremony of ICGS Samarth at Goa
Shipyard Limited in Panaji. Yesterday, Parrikar had ruled out any more
concessions on OROP. Ex-servicemen returned their war and other medals at
various places in Punjab and Haryana on Tuesday to register their protest
against the “diluted” notification of the OROP.

There were reports of veterans
returning their medals in Jalandhar, Amritsar, Patiala in Punjab and Panchkula,
Rohtak, Hisar and Ambala in Haryana.

Amritsar/Ferozepur: For the second successive year, Prime Minister
Narendra Modi today celebrated Diwali with troops, visiting military
installations associated with the 1965 Indo-Pak war where he praised their
"valour and character" and promised "foolproof"
implementation of One Rank, One Pension for war veterans.

Against the backdrop
of the continuing protests by several ex-servicemen over OROP, PM Modi said it
was for the first time that the government, while notifying its decision to
implement the scheme, had also set up a commission to ensure there are no
shortcomings in the process.

"It is a
foolproof arrangement," he said.

PM Modi paid
surprise visits to three military installations close to the Indo-Pak border -
the Dograi War Memorial in Khasa, Asal Uttar Memorial near Valtoha and Barki
War Memorial in Ferozepur district, and interacted with the troops.

At the Dograi War
Memorial in Khasa in Amritsar, he placed wreath at the venue of one of the
toughest battles fought and won by Indian forces on September 22, 1965.

He also laid a
wreath at the Asal Uttar Memorial near Valtoha on the Amritsar-Khem Karan road
in Punjab and at the tomb of Company Quartermaster Havildar Abdul Hamid, a
Param Vir Chakra recipient.

PM Modi said that
during the Asal Uttar battle in 1965, Hamid single handedly destroyed three
enemy tanks and helped stop their offensive, in spite of being mortally
wounded.

Asal Uttar Memorial
marks the Battle of Asal Uttar, which was one of the largest tank battles
fought within Indian territory in 1965.

PM Modi also met
soldiers at the Barki War Memorial, about 98 km from Khasa, which was
constructed in 1969 to perpetuate the memory of soldiers of the 7 Infantry
Division who made the supreme sacrifice on the battle field in 1965 war.

Ex-Servicemen Take
Out March Against One Rank One Pension Notification

New Delhi:Dissatisfied with the government's
announcement on One Rank One Pension or OROP, military veterans are today
observing what they call a 'Black Diwali'.

Escalating their
protests, a group of veterans today launched a protest march in Delhi and tried
to make their way to the President's House but were stopped by the police.

Despite the
government hurrying over the weekend to issue a notification on their long held
demand of pension reform armed forces veterans yesterday began returning medals
they have been awarded in service of the country, protesting against what they
call "the dilution of the definition of OROP".

"The fact that
you are forming a parallel commission while issuing notification means they
themselves agree that notification is flawed," Group Captain V K Gandhi
said.

The veterans say
they are unhappy with the OROP package announced by the government, which has
said pensions will be equalised every five years.

The ex-servicemen
want pensions to be equalised every year. Also, the OROP notification says
soldiers who opt for pre-mature retirement or leave the forces without
completing their full term, will not qualify for OROP. The veterans oppose
this.

Not all
ex-servicemen have, however, joined the latest protest. The Indian Ex
Servicemen League - one of biggest and oldest bodies - will stay away.

Defence Minister
Manohar Parrikar has indicated that the government is in no mood to be
pressured any longer. "In a democracy people can demand whatever they
want, not everything can be met," he said yesterday.

On Sunday, in the
final step to implement the scheme, the government notified OROP, which
provides that armed personnel of the same rank will draw the same pension
regardless of when they retired.

The announcement
last week that the veterans would return medals was seen as a move to pressure
the government into notifying OROP before Diwali as it had promised.

No lightweight
bullet-proof jackets for Indian Army as political apathy, bureaucracy prevails

ndia's infantry
lacks even lightweight modular bullet-proof jackets a decade after the demand
was first made, according to a report in a news daily.

So what is the
problem? Defence ministry sources on Tuesday told the daily said the
procurement for 1,86,138 bullet-proof jackets through the 'capital
procurementroute', which was approved
by the defence acquisitions council in October 2009, is now on the verge of
being scrapped.

These jackets were
required to effectively protect the head, neck, chest, groin and sides of
soldiers as well as allow them to move with greater agility duringcounter-insurgency operations.

All these 1.86 lakh
jackets, each costing around Rs 50,000, were to be provided by 2012. Another
1.67 lakh jackets were to be ordered in the second round. "But thejackets offered by six vendors have not met
the technical parameters or GSQRs (general staff qualitative requirements) laid
down by the Army. DRDO laboratory DMSRDE (defence materials research &
development establishment), too, has failed to deliver," said the source.

The 'emergency revenue procurement' of 50,000
jackets, approved as an operational urgency by defence minister Manohar
Parrikar however, has gone ahead. Tata Advanced Materials and MKU have been
selected and asked to submit 'advance samples' for comprehensive ballistic
tests. If they pass, then bulk orders of 25,000 each would be placed on the two
firms. These jackets should cost around Rs 25,000 apiece.

But a fresh tender
will have to be issued for the 1.86 lakh jackets.

The Indian Army
wanted a modular jacket, whose weight could vary depending on the level of
protection needed. The jacket was to weigh less than 4-kg for "low
threat'' missions. For "high threat" missions, the jacket was to
weigh up to 11.5 kg with hard armour plates.

The project was
cleared in 2009, since the Army then had a shortage of 1.86 lakh jackets. Even
the old and bulky jackets currently held by the Army, which offer inadequate
protection, are now running out of their shelf-life, says the report.

The hindrances to
modern jackets are many. Revision of technical parameters and re-floating of
tenders as well as convoluted defence procurement procedures and political
apathy and bureaucratic red tape have hindered several modernisation plans of
the Army.

In order to bolster
its capability against Pakistan and China, India is said to be engaged in
serious talks with the US to acquire the hi-tech ‘Avenger’ armed drone and the
matter is likely to be actively taken up by Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar
when he visits Washington in early December.

If the deal gets
through, India would become the first nation outside the US to possess the
armed drone, previously called the Predator C, widely read defence news portal,
Arming India has reported.

Targeting terrorists
and their camps inside a neighboring nation’s hostile territory is a military
move New Delhi has been hesitating to take since the November 26, 2008 Mumbai
attacks, but is now being increasingly talked about as a possibility after the
cross-border strike by the Indian Army commandos to eliminate militants from India’s
North-East, hiding deep inside Myanmar territory, in June.

India had initiated
talks for acquiring the Avenger in September this year, during US deputy
defence secretary Frank Kendall’s visit to New Delhi.

Similar requests had
been made by India, through Indian and American diplomatic and military
channels at least five times previously beginning March 2010, the letter
stated, noting that all the while the US had pointed out to the export controls
imposed on such technology and its sale by the Missile Technology Control
Regime. It sought a quick untangling of the MTCR and American license control
knots.

“General Atomics Aeronautical
Systems Inc. is aware of India’s interest in Predator-series remotely piloted
aircraft,” the report quoted General Atomics’ chief executive for US and
International Strategic Development Dr Vivek Lall as saying.

Avenger can fly at maximum
altitudes of 50,000 feet for up to 18 hours and touch speeds of 400 knots
through air speed (KTAS) or 460 miles an hour. Its significant payload capacity
enables it to carry multiple sensors, while its internal weapons bay can house
3,500 pounds of precision munitions. In 2016, an extended range variant of
Avenger will be available which will feature a 76-foot wingspan and increased
fuel capacity that will increase the aircraft’s endurance to 20 hours.

Indian Army, Air Force and Navy
currently have the Israeli Searcher-II and Heron ISR drones in their inventory,
apart from Harop Kamikazi-style self-destructing combat drones in service. But
the Predator-series provide ISR capability that is fully interoperable with the
US forces and the US military platforms, in the Indian military’s aircraft
inventory.

The Avenger would provide India
with a definitively superior armed drone capability over Pakistan.